Student Responsibilities & Rights

Student Responsibilities and Rights

Preamble

The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) in Shreveport is dedicated to providing its students, residents, faculty, staff, and patients with an environment of respect, dignity, and support. The diverse backgrounds, personalities, and learning needs of individual students must be considered at all times in order to foster appropriate and effective teacher-learner relationships. Honesty, fairness, evenhanded treatment, and respect for students’ physical and emotional well being are the foundation of establishing an effective learning environment.

Student Responsibilities

Students are responsible for complying with all policies/procedures, rules and regulations and other information published by the Health Sciences Center. In addition, students are expected to abide by all federal, state and local laws. Students are expected to:

Exhibit the highest standard of personal, academic professional and ethical behavior.

Abide by the Code of Conduct that applies to their specific professional discipline.

Students who violate any of the above when involved in any school or school related activity/function, whether on or off campus, will be subject to disciplinary action.

Students Rights

Mistreatment and abuse of students by faculty, residents, staff or fellow students is contrary to the educational objectives of the LSUHSC in Shreveport and will not be tolerated. Mistreatment and abuse include, but are not limited to, berating, belittling, or humiliation; physical punishment or threats; intimidation; sexual harassment; harassment or discrimination based on race, gender, sexual preference, age, religion, physical or learning disabilities; assigning a grade for reasons other than the student’s performance; assigning tasks for punishment or non-educational purposes; requiring the performance of personal services; or failing to give students credit for work they have done.

Students have rights as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and all appropriate federal, state and local laws. Primary among those is the right to a fair and impartial hearing, if the student is accused of misconduct or violating university regulations. Additionally, students have the right to file a complaint for alleged mistreatment. The Health Sciences Center has existing policies and procedures that relate to the following: financial aid; sexual harassment; final grade appeal; student housing; parking; drugs; alcohol; firearms; student’s access to records, and privacy; computer/internet use; dress and professional conduct; health insurance; and liability insurance. Issues that relate to these specific policies, which may be found on the Health Sciences Center website, should be addressed to the appropriate office. The Office of Student Affairs of the appropriate school can help students with information about those policies.

Procedure for Addressing Student Complaints

If the Health Sciences Center or specific school already has a policy concerning the student’s complaint, procedures indicated in that policy should be used; if the Health Sciences Center or specific school has no specific policy, the following procedure should be used. Specific school policies should include the following basic elements:

Informal Conflict Resolution

Discuss the conflict with the person against whom the complaint is made. In the event that the complainant does not feel comfortable doing so, the complaint should be directed to the Office of Academic Affairs.

The Associate Dean of Academic Affairs will meet with the individual against whom the complaint has been made in an effort to resolve the conflict.

Filing a Formal Complaint

If the conflict cannot be resolved informally, the complainant must make a formal written complaint to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. The written complaint must include the following:

A statement of the complaint,

Identification of individual/office against whom the complaint is made,

The relief sought,

The complaint must be signed by the complainant.

The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs:

May make a decision as to how the matter can be resolved. This decision shall be communicated to all concerned parties in writing;

If for any reason the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs chooses not to render a decision, he/she may empanel an ad hoc committee comprising three faculty members, at least one of which is from the pool of elected members of the Faculty Senate and two students appointed by the appropriate Student Government Association President. The Committee shall meet in an effort to resolve the matter within a period of 10 working days. Neither party shall be represented by attorneys in the hearing. The hearing shall be recorded (but not the deliberations) for use by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs if needed. The Committee may meet with the concerned parties and others who can provide information that is helpful in resolving the matter. The Committee meetings will be closed, and information provided during the meeting shall be held in strictest confidence.

The Committee shall reach a decision as to the resolution of the matter and make its written recommendation to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs within five working days. The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, upon receipt of the Committee’s recommendation, will make a decision and communicate this decision in writing to all concerned parties and the Dean of the appropriate school. The decision of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs is final and non-appealable. PM effective January 14, 2005

Notification of Rights Under FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords students certain rights with respect to their educational records. These rights include:

The right to inspect and review the student’s education records within 45 days of the day Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport receives a request for access. Students should submit to the Registrar written requests that identify the records they wish to inspect. The Registrar will notify the student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. If the records are not maintained in the Office of the Registrar, the student will be advised of the correct office to contact.

The right to request the amendment of the student’s education records that the student believes is inaccurate, misleading or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights under FERPA. Students may ask the University to amend a record that they believe is inaccurate or misleading. A student who wishes to ask the University to amend a record should write the University official responsible for the record, clearly identify the part of the record the student wants changed, and specify why it should be changed. If the University decides not to amend a record as requested, the University will notify the student in writing of the decision and advise the student of his or her right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the student when notified of the right to a hearing.

The right to provide written consent before the University discloses personally identifiable information from the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. One exception, which permits disclosure without consent, is the disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is defined as a person employed by the University in an administrative, supervisory, academic or research, or support staff position (including law enforcement unit personnel and health staff); a person or company with whom the University has contracted as its agent or provide a service instead of using University employees or officials (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent); a person serving on the LSU Board of Supervisors; or a student serving on an official committee, such as for academic awards, disciplinary or grievance committees, or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks. A school official has legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibilities for the University.

Upon request, the University may also disclose education records without consent to officials of another school in which a student seeks or intends to enroll. (Attempts are made to advise the student of the disclosure before it is made.)

The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the University to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the office that administers FERPA is:

Directory Information

At its discretion, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport may provide “directory information” in accordance with the provisions of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). Directory information is defined as that information which would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. Designated directory information at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport includes the following: student’s name, address, telephone listing, electronic mail address, photograph, date and place of birth, major field of study, dates of attendance, grade level, enrollment status (e.g., undergraduate or graduate, full-time or part-time), participation in officially recognized activities or sports, degrees, honors and awards received, most recent educational agency or institution attended, and planned post-completion placement (including AAMC Match).

Please consider very carefully the consequences of a decision to withhold directory information. A non-disclosure block will call for Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport not to release any or all of this “directory information;” thus, any future requests for such information from non-institutional persons or organizations will be refused.

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport will honor the student’s request to withhold directory information but cannot assume responsibility to contact the student for subsequent permission to release this information. Regardless of the effect upon the student, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport assumes no liability as a result of honoring the student’s instructions that such information be withheld. Although the initial request may be filed at any time, requests for non-disclosure will be honored by the University until removed, in writing, by the student.